Record-high gas prices peeve area drivers

LAS CRUCES — Average gas prices hit a record high in Las Cruces on Friday at $3.45 for a gallon of regular unleaded, according to the AAA Daily Fuel Gauge Report.

Las Crucens are paying, on average, a penny more per gallon than the rest of the country. Gas from a local pump is 57 cents more expensive per gallon than a year ago. And it's more expensive than what drivers in Albuquerque and Santa Fe are paying; their regular unleaded gas is $3.36 and $3.42 a gallon.

Another Las Cruces record was set Wednesday, for the highest recorded price for diesel fuel, at $4.07 a gallon; diesel prices have dropped a penny a day since then. A year ago, diesel in Las Cruces was more than a dollar cheaper, $3.03 a gallon.

Meanwhile, Oil futures, surged to a new record of over $117 a barrel Friday.

Drivers in oil-rich Venezuela and many Middle Eastern countries still pay less than a dollar a gallon for their public-owned petrol, prices that haven't been seen in this country for more than a decade. If there's any silver lining to the news, it's that local gas prices are still low compared to tax-heavy gas prices in Europe, typically twice as much as American gas.

Las Cruces hike organizer Don Pulliam said even roughing it hurts these days.

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He and his hiking group have been cutting down both on the frequency and the distance of their formerly twice-weekly jaunts because of gas prices.

"It is a factor on the hiking. I used to go out and explore more, but it costs so much," Pulliam said. "We're not going out as far, either, because of that ... My friends have a trailer, but it costs so much, like $100 just for a two-hour drive. Their mileage drops down to 10, 12 miles a gallon."

Pulliam said that just means more hikes in Baylor Canyon, the Corralitos, Robledos and Doña Anas — and less in Cloudcroft and the Gila Wilderness.

"It's definitely had an impact on where we go, even though everyone shares (the cost)," he said of the excursions. "I still will, just not as often."

Anthony Popp, head of the Economics Department at New Mexico State University, said people are being hit hard by the mortgage crisis and high gas prices, but are still holding out hope that they can ride it out.

"People are still buying SUVs, full-sized SUVs, and they're still driving them," he said. "I did notice it cost me $85 to fill up the tank this morning and that kind of surprised me."

Most people, he said, will probably cut back on trips to El Paso and the movies; they will do all their errands at once instead of hitting one destination. Popp said he and his wife haven't taken separate trips to their cabin in Cloudcroft in recent memory.

"In our working lives, we can't make much adjustment in driving," he said. "We've gone through this before. It'll be pretty nasty while it shakes out. It will probably take another year or two to do so, but it's not going to have a long-lasting effect on the economy."

According to a Washington Post-ABC News poll Friday, 90 percent of respondents said the state of the nation's economy is bad, with 51 percent describing it as poor and 39 percent calling it "not so good." The Post said the number rating the economy poor has increased more quickly in the last two months than at any time since the Post and ABC started polling in 1985.